Snapshots

A snapshot is a read-only copy of a model, taken at a moment. It keeps the units, positions, reporting lines and assignments exactly as they were, so you can look back at how a model stood before a merge, at the end of last month, or on any day you chose to keep.

A snapshot is not the same thing as a point on a timeline. A timeline is made of points: models with an effective date, ordered by that date. Most points are plans you author — today, end of Q2, end of year. A snapshot can be a point too, if you place it on the timeline, but it doesn’t have to be: most snapshots sit quietly in the model’s history and never appear there.

How a snapshot gets taken

There are three ways, and every snapshot remembers which one filed it:

Reason	How	On the timeline by default?
Pre-merge	Ticking Save a snapshot first when you apply a sync proposal, to a live model or as a one-time update.	Yes
Scheduled	The model’s snapshot schedule runs.	No
Manual	Pressing Snapshot now on the model’s Snapshots tab.	No

Snapshot now always takes a copy, even if nothing has changed since the last snapshot. In its dialog, tick Place on the timeline to put the copy on the timeline straight away and choose the date it is filed under; leave it off and you can place it later.

Two dates: taken and effective

Every snapshot carries two dates, and they answer different questions:

Taken is when the copy was captured. It is always the moment the snapshot was made.
Effective date is the date the snapshot is filed under, and so where it sits if it is on the timeline.

The effective date follows the model it was taken of. A snapshot of a dated plan keeps the plan’s effective date, so a snapshot of your January plan is still filed under January. A snapshot of an undated model is dated to the day the model last changed, because that is how long the saved state had been true.

When you put a new snapshot on the timeline as you take it, with Snapshot now or Save a snapshot first, you can choose a different date. The default follows the same rule: for a dated model it is The model’s own effective date, so a snapshot of your January plan lands beside the plan, not before it; for an undated model it is When the model last changed. The alternatives are When the model last changed (offered for a dated model too), Today, or a Custom date. A custom date can’t be in the future; if you clear it, the dialog asks you to pick a date before it takes the snapshot.

The Snapshots tab says the same under its heading: Taken is when the copy was captured, and Effective date is the date it is filed under on the timeline.

On the timeline or off it

A snapshot is either on its model’s timeline or off it, and you can change your mind at any time. On the model’s Snapshots tab, open the snapshot’s row menu and choose Place on timeline or Remove from timeline. The snapshot keeps its effective date either way.

A snapshot only ever joins the timeline of the model it was taken of. If that model isn’t on a timeline yet, placing its first snapshot starts one; if it is in the trash, restore it before placing any of its snapshots.

On the timeline strip, a snapshot is marked with a camera icon and labelled with the name of the model it was taken of; hovering it shows when it was taken and why. Once it is there, it counts as a point like any other: it gets its own column in the trend views, and a position’s Timeline tab lists it in date order.

Scheduled snapshots stay off the timeline unless you ask, so a daily schedule doesn’t add a new point every day.

Where to find them

Every snapshot of a model is on that model’s Snapshots tab. Snapshots are left out of the models list, even with Show archived on, so the list only holds the models you work on, and out of search.

The tab lists the snapshots newest first, with when each was taken (the date and time, and how long ago), its reason, its effective date, whether it is on the timeline, and its name. On a narrower screen, or with the sidebar open, each snapshot is shown as a card instead of a table row, so its timeline status and its menu are always in view. The name is the model’s name plus the date the snapshot is filed under, for example Plan A — 2026-10-10 snapshot. Elsewhere (the timeline strip, the band across an open snapshot and the line under it in the trash) a snapshot is described by when it was taken and why, for example Oct 10, 2026, 3:04 PM (manual). The Compare and Merge pickers lead with its effective date: Effective Feb 10, 2026 · taken Oct 10, 2026, 3:04 PM (manual). Each row’s menu has:

Action	What it does
Open	Opens the snapshot.
Compare with current	Opens the model’s Compare view with the snapshot already picked.
Export	Downloads the snapshot as an export file, the same file the Import / Export page makes for a single model, named after the snapshot (for example Plan A — 2026-10-10 snapshot.zip). A message confirms when the download starts and when it is done. Organization admins only, on a plan that includes imports and exports.
Place on timeline / Remove from timeline	Puts the snapshot on the model’s timeline or takes it off.
Move to trash	After you confirm, sends the snapshot to the trash. The model it was taken of is not affected. In the trash it says which model it was taken of, and restoring it brings it back as a snapshot.

Anyone who can see the model can see its snapshots. Taking, placing and trashing them needs edit access to the model.

Read-only

Opening a snapshot shows a band across the top: which model it was taken of, when, and why, with links back to that model and to all of its snapshots. A snapshot can’t be edited, and there is nothing to unarchive. To work from one, copy it: the copy is an ordinary model you can change freely.

A snapshot has no snapshots or schedule of its own, so its Snapshots tab points you to the model it was taken of, and its header has no Live sync button: a snapshot can’t be kept live or updated from your people directory. Its Merge view keeps Apply Merge off, because nothing can be merged into a snapshot.

Comparing and merging

The Compare and Merge views list the model’s own snapshots in their own group, Snapshots of this model, newest first, between On this model’s timeline and Other models. Each is named by its effective date, then when and why it was taken.

Compare against a snapshot to see exactly what has changed in the model since it was taken.
Merge from a snapshot to bring back part of an earlier state: pick the snapshot as the source, accept the changes you want back, and apply them, the same as any other merge.

Automatic snapshots

You don’t have to remember to take snapshots. The Schedule button beside Snapshot now on a model’s Snapshots tab opens a dialog that files one for you:

Turn on Snapshot this model on a schedule.
Pick a Schedule: Every day, Every week (Monday) or Every month (1st), each at 02:00 UTC, or Custom… for a five-field cron expression in UTC. A schedule runs at most once an hour.
Decide whether to tick Place each snapshot on the timeline. It is off by default, so a frequent schedule doesn’t crowd the timeline; the snapshots are still saved and dated, and you can place any of them later.
Decide whether to tick Snapshot even if nothing changed. Off, a run is skipped when the model hasn’t changed since its last snapshot, so a stable model doesn’t collect identical copies.
Press Save schedule. Until you do, none of the changes above take effect, and the dialog says it has unsaved changes.

A scheduled snapshot is the same copy Save a snapshot first makes, just unattended, so a live model gains a running history of how your organization actually looked, including changes that were auto-accepted.

Below the settings, Last run shows when the schedule last ran and what it did: snapshot saved (with a link to open it), skipped because nothing changed, or skipped because the model was archived or in the trash. Run now takes a snapshot straight away with the saved settings; save the schedule first to enable it. A snapshot from Run now is listed with the reason Manual, not Scheduled, because you asked for it. The Schedule button says On while a schedule runs and Off otherwise.

Snapshots and your plan

Snapshots don’t count toward your plan’s model limit. See Plans and limits.

Planning over time — timelines, and the points they are made of.
Models — what a snapshot is a copy of.
Keep a model live — saving a snapshot before applying a sync proposal.
Compare and merge — comparing against a snapshot, and merging from one.
APIs — listing, taking and placing snapshots from a script or an AI agent.